Small Favors
by AquaTurquoise
Summary: Cedric and Sofia are finally able to meet Erine's brothers and bring them some much-needed closure. (Collab with MarionetteJ2X)


Small Favors

Summary: Cedric and Sofia are finally able to meet Erine's brothers and bring them some much-needed closure. (Collab with MarionetteJ2X)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nana, Tanya, Erine, Tarrant, and Timothy all belong to MarionetteJ2X.

A/N: Well, guys! This is it! The first story of AquaTurquoise's Season 2 Stories. Things will begin changing even more for a lot of our favorite characters. You'll meet some new people (some good, and some…not). You'll see new and old enemies. You'll make some astonishing discoveries. We've got a lot of new adventures on the way. Just a lot of things…

But before we get to the rest of this season, let's start off with something heartwarming. You've read the summary. Now let's get to the story. 😉 Also, Happy New Year!

*Story*

A fresh, promising, and (naturally) snowy new year had just begun. Everything was brand new and full of hope, like always. No one knew quite what to expect of the road ahead, but they knew things were going to be different this year. How? They weren't entirely sure yet, but something about the changing from the previous year to the current one just felt…distinct.

One thing that _didn't _change was the bubbly interaction Sofia had with the girls. She was currently chasing Tanya (who was carrying Nana) around her bed and throughout her room, all of them laughing in the process. None of them had noticed Cedric and Cordelia standing at the princess's doorway, both watching the trio with amused expressions.

"Gotcha!" Sofia declared as she scooped Tanya up, hugging her gently before playfully kissing Nana's cheek, causing the tiny girl to fall into a silent giggle fest.

"Ahem."

Sofia blinked and paused, the girls mimicking her actions, before she looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Hey, guys," she drawled with a nervous laugh. "How…long have you two been standing there?"

Cedric shrugged. "Long enough. I thought you told me that you were going to get the girls ready."

"I did, technically." She gestured proudly toward both girls, nodding at their usual ensembles. "There, you see? Dressed and ready for the day."

"Just make sure you all wear your coats," Cordelia suggested, a fond smile on her face as she watched the partners help the girls into matching white coats. "It's rather cold outside, after all."

"You too, my dear," Cedric insisted as he noticed that Sofia was about to walk to her door. He smirked and took her arm, rolling his eyes as she playfully protested. "I can't have you catching a cold."

The princess grinned, teasingly poking his chest. "I thought it was _your_ job to keep me warm, Cedric."

He sputtered as she laughed. "Would you stop that? Come on." He picked up her lavender coat from the hook near her door and helped her slide into it. "We have a lot to do today." He gently gathered her hair and pulled it out of the coat, letting the braid fall against her back and legs.

"I know." She smiled up at him as she took his arm. "Maybe when we get back, we can unwind a bit and tell the girls a few stories before bedtime."

Tanya held onto Nana's hand as they began walking toward the door. "Yes, I am especially intrigued by this pirate adventure you both had."

"Ugh, the pirate trip?" Cedric rolled his eyes. "_Must_ we relive that?"

"We'll leave out…a few parts." She laughed as she saw Cordelia blink at them questioningly. "Don't ask. Long story short: pirate ships are filled with drama."

"Ah." The sorceress shrugged. "Well, that doesn't necessarily surprise me, somehow."

* * *

After a while, the quartet finally left the castle, heading to the outskirts of the village, where a bazaar was set up. It was similar to the bazaars of the past, though this one was more geared toward magical items than everyday ones.

Nana's green eyes lit up in awe as she stared around at her huge surroundings. Somewhere between the entrance to the bazaar and here, she'd let go of Tanya's hand and begun wandering on her own. Everywhere she could see, there was something magical to behold: wands, talismans, crystal balls, and so many other things. She wasn't paying much attention to where she was going and accidentally walked straight into the leg of someone a great deal taller than she was.

Gasping, the little girl looked up at the person she'd collided with.

"Sorry about that," a guy, probably early twenties, apologized, kneeling down to Nana's level. "Wow, you're tiny."

Nana smiled sweetly and clasped her hands behind her back, gently kicking a pebble out of the way of her standing spot.

"What's your name, little one?"

She paused, offering him a sad look before shaking her head and patting her neck.

The young man smiled bitterly. "Can't speak, huh? I…know all too well…how _terrible_ that can be." He watched as the girl tilted her head, her pink hair falling across her forehead and cheeks in such a familiar way. And those eyes… "You know… You remind me of someone…"

"Nana?"

Nana turned and grinned, waving as her guardians and Tanya approached, Sofia kneeling next to her tinier charge. She gasped as she felt herself lifted into a gentle hug before she was finally left to sit on the princess's shoulder.

"I hope she wasn't bothering you," Sofia began with a soft smile toward the brown-haired guy. "We're usually able to keep an eye on her, but she slips away so easily sometimes."

"Oh, no, she's fine." He chuckled as he watched the little girl yawn and put her hand to her mouth. "I was just…thinking how much she reminded me of someone…."

"Really now?" Cedric wondered curiously. "Who might that be?"

"Eh…" He cleared his throat and rubbed his arm self-consciously. "I don't…really like talking about it much, because it's such a difficult topic, but…" He nodded toward Nana. "My younger brother Tarrant and I had a little sister. She wasn't able to talk either, and her eyes…were very similar to your daughter's."

For once, neither guardian tried to correct the young man. After all, he'd said a few key words that had definitely caught their attention.

"T-Tarrant," Sofia repeated, her blue eyes widening in surprise as she looked the young man over carefully. "It…can't be." She walked up to the guy, a look of near desperation on her face as Tanya hung back near Cedric. "Please, is your name…Timothy, by any chance?"

"I—"

"Tim!" Another brown-haired guy, who seemed to be in his late teens, hurried up to his older brother and sighed. "No luck. This doesn't seem to be the normal type of bazaar. Just a lot of magic stuff." He frowned before looking at the others, noticing the strained silence and somewhat stunned looks on their faces. "Uh… What did I miss?"

Cedric finally broke the silence by suggesting, "Perhaps we should talk…away from here?" He gestured toward a clearing in the distance. "There, for instance?"

* * *

The brothers, the partners, and the young girls all left in relative silence, each quietly pondering the situation. Everyone seemed to know that something was unique about this encounter, but no one was saying anything on it.

As soon as they had sat down together, the princess was the first to speak up.

"I'm so sorry about Erine…"

"E-Erine?" Tarrant asked, shocked. "W… We haven't seen her in a long time. "A few years, if not more?" His green eyes, similar to Timothy's, widened. "Have you seen her? And…why are you sorry? What do you _know_?!"

Sofia immediately regretted having said anything. She slunk back a bit, into Cedric's patient and comforting arms, as Nana held onto her neck. "I…"

"And I'm still very curious as to why your little girl looks so much like our little sister…" Timothy was frowning now, his gaze solely focused on Nana. His eyes shifted a bit until he caught Cedric's attention. "What do you know that we don't?"

Cedric sighed, his left hand holding Sofia's while his right hand gently caressed her arm. "How long do you have?"

"For Erine, a lifetime." Tarrant's declaration was so pure and noble that the partners didn't quite know how to react.

The sorcerer began the tale of how they came across Nana a few years ago, her origins that of a dark beginning with the Tenebrous cult. They, of course, hadn't known anything else about the girl prior to that. He then delved into the incident with the Looking Back Glass last fall. Deciding it might be best to be obscure when it came to details, he left things more open-ended for the brothers to interpret.

"We saw…a horrible event manifest," Cedric explained, hoping not to upset the brothers, the little girls, or Sofia. "I know you're aware that your sister went missing because of your parents."

"How could we _not _know?" Timothy lamented, sighing. "They never liked our sister for some reason. She was, to them, a great disappointment. She never could speak. She didn't fit in with high society."

"And that's why we left," Tarrant acknowledged. "If they could mistreat someone as good and innocent as Erine, who's to say that we wouldn't be next? And we've spent the last few years looking for her, but…" He frowned thoughtfully. "I get the feeling that whatever you're about to tell us isn't going to be good."

Cedric whispered something to Sofia, who nodded and stood up, guiding the girls away from where they were sitting. Without being prompted, he explained, "What I'm about to tell you is horrible. But I couldn't say it with the girls present… I don't want to upset them, and goodness knows that Sofia has been through enough trauma recently…" He inhaled slowly before sighing. "It pains me to inform you that…your sister, Erine, was…" He swallowed nervously, clasping his hands firmly together in his lap. "W-Was s-sacrificed…by the Tenebrous cult from the Never Realm."

Timothy and Tarrant both sat there, stunned. They'd looked for their sister all this time, when in fact, she wasn't around to find. Tarrant was the first to break.

"Erine, no!" He sobbed into his hands, shaking his head. "No, not our sister!"

Timothy managed to hold back his emotions a bit better as he carefully patted his brother's back. He turned his gaze to Cedric, who caught his eye. "How…long ago?"

"A few years… I never could have imagined something so terrible until I saw it with my own eyes…through that Looking Back Glass." He tugged at his robe sleeve. "A-Anyway… The reason our little Nana seems so familiar to you is that…the Tenebrous actually…" He had to word this carefully. "…They transformed her into Nana…"

Tarrant's head shot up. "That little girl is our sister?"

Cedric shrugged and half nodded. "In a way, yes. She used to be a strawberry, though, and when your sister was fused with her…" He glanced to his right and smiled fondly as he saw Sofia playing with Nana and Tanya to keep them busy. "Nana came to be."

"I want to be angry about this," Timothy admitted, sighing. "Sort of like, why did your Nana get to live while our sister had to die? But… I guess, in a way, Erine is still with us." He smiled thoughtfully as Tarrant turned to him. "The little girl still has our sister's eyes. She has her inability to talk. She has her kindness and gentleness. She's just…much tinier and has strange origins."

"She's at least well taken care of," Tarrant acquiesced as he used the back of his sleeve to wipe away his tears. "I suppose we should thank you two for that."

"I just wonder if she knows who we are…" The older brother frowned thoughtfully. "Even if she and Erine are now one and the same, would she remember us?"

Cedric hummed. "Perhaps. It may take some time for any stored memories to come to fruition, but…I suppose you'll just have to keep in touch to see to it that such a thing happens."

Tarrant blinked. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "You're her brothers, regardless of the circumstances. You have every right to visit her and form a bond with her again." He then smiled sheepishly. "Just don't ask Sofia and me to adopt you both as well. I'm afraid you're a little outside our age of comfort."

The guys both laughed.

"Just having Erine back in our lives in _some_ manner is more than enough," Timothy responded, smiling. "Thank you, Cedric, right?" He saw the sorcerer nod and nodded himself. "We're so grateful that you've taken such good care of her. Even knowing her dark origins, it seems you still took her in and treated her like one of your own… We couldn't have asked for better for our little sister. Or…her counterpart."

"Believe me." Cedric smiled as he and the guys watched the girls playing in the distance, any form of anxiety or anguish gone from their features. "The honor was all ours."

* * *

Several minutes later, the group reconvened, and the time came for Timothy and Tarrant to bid the little family goodbye. They thanked Cedric and Sofia for telling them the truth and, obviously, for taking on such a responsibility with both girls.

"Maybe we'll meet again," Timothy suggested, holding out one hand to Nana (who was standing next to Tanya), who blinked and smiled, placing her own tiny hand in his with a nod. He smiled. "Pleasure meeting you… Nana."

Nana beamed as Tarrant mimicked his older brother's actions. As they turned and left, she waved. Her little head tilted to the side a bit, a frown forming on her features. Why did they…seem so familiar to her?

"Do you think she knows?" Sofia asked Cedric a few moments later as they watched their smaller charge watching the guys with a sense of focus.

"On some level, deep inside, yes." He shook his head. "I just don't know if she's ready to admit it yet. It'll probably take some time."

The princess sighed, holding onto his arm and smiling at him as he turned to face her. "Thankfully, I can say…we have plenty of time."

Cedric smiled and nodded before pulling her to his side once again.

The end


End file.
